Lookout

Monday, December 5, 2011

A mixed bag...

I'm not nearly as observant in my day to day routine as I find I am when I am on a river. Lately, I feel like I see every shadow, every movement, every action that I am otherwise not tuned into during a "regular" day. For me, fishing seems to sharpen my senses and open my mind to a world of possibilities that are only available to me while I am wading, bush-whacking or otherwise outfitted to fish. Reading water is done with an almost Zen-like focus that allows me to tune out everything else in the world for those moments.

I recently had the experience of selectively working a stretch of water and casting to very specific seams of water only to be rewarded on the first cast each time I settled on a location.

Lots of these around on this day...

I landed one fish, on a recent outing, that appeared to have had a battle with a heron or other bird or prey or possibly a situation where the fish had been foul hooked. This got me thinking about the few instances where I have foul hooked a fish and the overwhelming feeling of guilt I have had for landing a fish in such a fashion...I wish I knew a way to prevent such an occurrence going forward.

I was however, pleased to see plenty of rising fish during this same outing and found myself just watching and not actually fishing to any risers as most of my fishing has been sub-surface this season.

Which leads me to my next ramble...

I go through tippet these days like it's going out of style. I found myself searching my pack for 5X and came up with a spool of Umpqua tippet material. Twenty minutes later, I remembered why I don't use this particular brand of tippet as I always seems to have an issue with the Umpqua material coiling like a pig tail. I never seem to have this issue with my RIO or Orvis tippet material. I have read that some swear by the Upmqua tippet but I just don't like how it has performed for me.

Finally, I must shift gears again and share one of my favorite homes on my local river...

Perfectly situated from a nice little section of riffled water, this house is quintessential New England with its wreathes on the windows and a plume of smoke billowing from the chimney. While there are a few homes along the river that I like, I must say this is my favorite.